2 Responses to “Bertrade de MONTFORT d’ EVREUX”

Bertrade de Montfort, who lived in the second half of eleventh century, was wife of Foulques, Count of Anjou and Touraine, nicknamed le Rechin, when she was abducted by King Philippe I during a journey he made in Tours in 1092. The most formidable enemies of the King of France were the bishops who refused to marry him to Bertrade. The king wanted to use severe measures against some of them, but he soon saw himself struck by the excommunication of the court of Rome. When he entered a town, the songs of priests stopped in churches, and the sound of bells was no longer heard. When Philippe and Bertrade were leaving, the priests resumed their hymns and bells rang merry: ” Do you hear , my dear, ‘said the king, laughing , do you hear these people chasing us ? ” In 1095 , Philippe promised to abandon Bertrade, but he kept not his word , and the Council of Clermont renewed against him the sentence of excommunication. Throughout his reign , he was under the weight of anathemas.